Night Prowl Halloween Show

2006

I’m proud to say that the Night Prowl Show, which I hosted on XM Satellite Radio from June, 2001 to October 2008, was famous for over-the-top Halloween shows. Early on, I got the crazy idea to use teenage tragedy songs or “Death By Teenage” songs as I like to call them as a Halloween theme, along with the traditional musical fare that we’re all used to. The teen tragedy song is really one of the most ridiculous and emotionally extreme trends to ever hit popular music and I thought the car wrecks, the gore, the ghosts and graveyard scenes of these songs really exemplified Halloween sentiment at its finest. I produced Halloween Night Prowl shows from 2001-2007, but I honestly feel that it all came together in this 2006 edition of my Halloween Spooktacular! Thanks to Warren (The RollaCoastah) of New Jersey for recording and preserving this show, as I did not record it myself. It’s because of Warren that we can all enjoy this Halloween show today. Not only will you hear the best, the craziest AND the rarest teen tragedy songs ever recorded on this program, but you’ll also her the greatest, spookiest and weirdest Halloween song of the 1950s and ’60s, REAL ghost stories as told by listeners, Willem Dafoe’s reading of the Poe classic, “The Raven,” and Cross Country Kelly’s interpretation of “The Rhyme Of The Ancient Mariner.” This is all contained within one, FOUR hour show.

Stream it now below and prepare yourself for radio like you’ve never heard it before. Let’s hope someday I’ll be able to produce a show like this on a grand scale once again. This program is literally the best radio has to offer, if I do say so myself. Enjoy and share it with everyone you know.

You can stream the 2006 Night Prowl Halloween Show through the link below. Enjoy!

Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast

“Rock Island Line”

This week’s “Friday Night Cat Fight” features the classic American folk tune, “Rock Island Line,” which was first discovered by musicologist Alan Lomax in 1934. Lomax was making his way through the South recording and preserving folk music for the Library Of Congress. It was at a penitentiary in Arkansas that he came across Kelly Pace and his group and they sang “Rock Island Line” for him. It is documented that this tune was very popular among inmates, who sang it as they worked the prison yards. Leadbelly also heard the tune while in prison and he first recorded it in 1937. The version by Leadbelly up for competition this week, though was taking from a 1940 session he had with the Golden Gate Quartet.

There are also five more versions of “Rock Island Line” vying for your vote, including the most popular one to date by British Skiffle sensation Lonnie Donegan. His version was released in 1955 and went to #8 on the US charts in 1956. Charting versions by Don Cornell and Johnny Cash are also featured.

Listen to the podcast in full and then vote for the version you truly DIG THE MOST at The Friday Night Cat Fight!

The Night Prowl Show

Air Check: Feb 27, 2004

Today (6/20/2012) marks the 11th anniversary of the Night Prowl Show’s debut over XM Satellite Radio.  When I first signed on the air, the only people listening were beta testers as the XM Radio service had not officially launched yet.  I would come into the studio every night from 8pm – midnight (7pm – midnight on Saturday Nights) and host a show to no one, until the service was officially launched in November of 2001.  Those were some lonely months broadcasting alone, but it gave us all a great appreciation for our audience once the listeners started to build.  It was amazing to be on the ground floor of not only a brand new radio company, but also a brand new medium of satellite radio broadcasting.  It’s something that I will never forget and will always appreciate and cherish.

The Night Prowl Show’s final episode aired on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 after seven and a half years on the air. 

So, to commemorate the Night Prowl’s 11th anniversary, I dug up an air check from February 27, 2004 that I have never posted before.  It’s a Friday Night Show and features the world famous Friday Night Cat Fight.  This was a very special and strange Cat Fight as I was attempting to replace the Night Prowl’s ending theme with a different version of “Harlem Nocturne.”  The show also contains a “Jive 45” on Ronnie Hawkins AND one of our Black History Month R&B Featurettes.  Also, I was running all 28 versions of Tommy Facenda’s “High School USA.”  I aired one regional version for every day in February, 2004.  This show features the Florida version.

I hope you enjoy listening to this air check as I feel it really gives the feeling of what a Night Prowl Show sounded like. 

Nothing beats live radio…PERIOD!

Thanks for all your soul and support.

Soulfully,

Matt The Cat

6/20/2012

CLICK BELOW TO STREAM THE AIR CHECK!